Ethical business: April Doubleday, jeweller

By PRSD, on Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Here at the People’s Republic of South Devon, we’re keen to promote the more ethical businesses out there. Jeweller April Doubleday got in touch and told us about her journey into ethical jewellery making. “I found out about too much in the jewellery industry to morally go on making jewellery, I nearly gave up, so I had to rethink about my supply chain and what I use,” she said. Find out just what she did.

I am a designer/maker of contemporary jewellery living on the North Coast of Devon. Ihave lived and worked there for over 25 year.

I studied at Plymouth College of Art and Design and gained a First Class Honers Degree. I use the coastline, rock formations and the sea as inspiration for my designs.

Every piece is hand-made giving each piece an individuality of its own. Most pieces are one off, individually made by her from flat sheets of metal.

Most of my work is forged, folded, etched and soldered with stones, wood, shell and glass being set to give colour and radiance to the piece.

My ethical wedding rings are made with 18ct ethical white/yellow gold. The metal is sourced from co-operative mines working with ARM (Association for Responsible Mining). Who work in a socially and environmentally responsible way, with a premium going to help miners and their communities. This enables them to reach Fair Trade Standards within Fair Trade guidelines in the production of the gold. No toxic chemicals are used in the cleaning process keeping the biodiversity of habitats intact.

The diamonds she uses are sourced from Canada so I can be sure of the transparent supply chain, which are socially and environmentally responsible.

I found out about too much in the jewellery industry to morally go on making jewellery, I nearly gave up, so I had to rethink about my supply chain and what I use, so now I use laboratory stones in my work or recycled old jewellery for stones and metal.

It is a problem to source most things, and just to get hold of a mined stone that has been mined responsibly can take months. There is a group of us from around the country who have set up BEJA (British Ethical Jewellery Assoication) that will be launching this year to support UK jewellers seeking to source materials from ethical and sustainable sources and to improve their own business practices and viability.

I would suggest anyone coming into the business of a ethical route to sign up to this association and also to sign the No Dirty Gold golden rules.

A bonus to me and my struggle to become totally ethical is that I’m the first in the South West to reach these standards in the jewellery sector and for weddings and engagements a lot of Devon-based couples come to me for their rings, with the knowledge that they have a transparently supplied ring, knowing that artisan and small-scale miners and diggers of the gold is helping transform the lives of vulnerable people engaged in mining and digging activities so that they become more secure, improve their social situation and the cohesiveness of their communities, and grow in self-confidence and personal power.

• Are you an ethical business, or do you know one? Get in touch with your interview answers, and you could be featured on the People’s Republic of South